Soon after the one-volume edition [1] was out, the
Mother said to our small group upstairs:
Savitri is
occult knowledge and spiritual experience. Some part of it can be understood
mentally—but much of it needs the same knowledge and experience for
understanding it. Nobody here except myself can explain Savitri. One day I hope
to explain it in its true sense.
An appreciative treatment of Savitri in terms of its poetic quality—an elucidation of
thought-content, its imagery, its word-craft and its rhythm-impact: this she
did not consider beyond another interpreter than herself. I can conclude thus
because she fully approved Huta’s proposal to her that I should go through the
whole of the epic with Huta during the
period when the Mother and she were doing the illustrations of the poem, the
Mother making outline sketches or suggesting the general disposition of the
required picture and Huta following her instructions, invoking Sri Aurobindo’s
spiritual help, keeping the Mother’s presence constantly linked to both her
heart and hand and producing the final finished painting.
It was a long-drawn-out pleasure—my study-sessions with
the young artist who proved to be a most eager and receptive pupil, indeed so
receptive that on a few occasions, with my expository enthusiasm serving as s
spur, she would come with ideas that taught a thing or two to the teacher.
[1] The single-volume 1954-edition of Savitri was published under the imprint
of the Sri Aurobindo International University Centre. Its important feature is
the inclusion of a large number of letters Sri Aurobindo had written, mostly
to Amal Kiran, discussing several aspects of the epic. The appendix
also gives the absolutely last three passages Sri Aurobindo had dictated towards
the end of its composition, around 15 November 1950, less than three weeks
before his passing away. However, the unfortunate thing is the
omission of the significant subtitle: A Legend and a Symbol. Amal Kiran gives a
brief account about the way this University edition was brought out, but we
shall take it up later, while looking into the editing of Savitri which needs to be presented properly, particularly in view of the
controversial Revised Edition of 1993.
Amal Kiran: Our Light and Delight